Radiological health risks

Abstract

The crew of a manned Mars mission will be unavoidably exposed to galactic cosmic ray (GCR) flux. The Mars mission crew shielded by 2 g/sq cm Al could receive about 0.7 Sv in a 460-day mission at solar minimum. However, three-fourths of this dose-equivalent in free space is contributed by high LET heavy ions (Z 3 or greater) and target fragments with average Q of 10.3 and 20, respectively. Such high quality factors for these particles may be inappropriate. Moreover, in a 460-day mission, less than half of the nuclei in the body of an astronaut will have been traversed by a single heavy particle. The entire concept of absorbed dose/quality factors/dose-equivalents as applied to GCR must be reconsidered.